Eat Seasonal Fruit Throughout the Day

• Apples, cantaloupes, strawberries and grapes are delicious and won't weigh you down. Natural fruit is filled with water, which makes it easily digestible. Raw fruit complements a 1,200-calorie diet nicely. Raw fruit consists of at least 80 percent water and generally has less than 70 calories per serving with the exception of avocados, bananas and dried fruit.
  
  

Grill, Bake and Steam

• Grill or bake chicken and fish. One trick to measuring a chicken breast or a piece of meat without using a scale is by cutting it down to the size of a deck of playing cards. This gives you about 3 ounces. Bake or grill salmon, cod or tilapia with onions. Steam or grill shellfish like shrimp, which is low in fat.
  
  

Think Brown

• You are allowed to eat whole-grain pasta, bread and crackers. Be sure to read the nutritional information labels posted on the back or the side of the packaging. This is the best way to correctly count calories so that you stay within 1,200 per day. These labels also provide the number of fat, carbohydrate and protein grams per serving.
  
  

Veggies

• Raw vegetables are the best. Try crisp broccoli spears, carrot sticks and celery. For dinner, you may lightly steam your vegetables and add seasoning for taste. Vegetables are an excellent side dish to a meal.
  
  

Snack on It

• Eat foods like low-fat, low-calorie yogurt, 2 tablespoons of almonds, gelatin, fat-free Popsicles and pretzels. Substitute frozen yogurt for ice cream. Try to snack on occasion. The goal is to enjoy your diet without feeling miserable about it.
  
  

Do It Yourself

• Create tasty meals that are low in calories and fat. For instance, substitute a homemade lean turkey burger for a thick, juicy cheeseburger. Substitute low-fat cheese made with skim milk for whole cheese. Substitute plain yogurt seasoned to taste for creamy dressings. Instead of purchasing store-brought pizzas, which are loaded with fat and calories, create low-calorie pizzas loaded with vegetables, turkey pepperoni or sausage.
  
  

Drinks

• Consume lots of water. Stay away from sugary sodas and juice drinks with small percentages of real fruit juice. For instance, many cartons and bottled "juices" are only 10 percent of real fruit juice and tend to be full of calories and sugar.
  
  

Condiments

• As a rule of thumb, condiments with cream, milk and oil tend to be higher in calories. So try reduced-calorie condiments. Another rule of thumb is that condiments like salad dressing, labeled low-fat, tend to have fewer calories as well. Pickles, ketchup and mustards like Dijon, yellow and honey are all acceptable and can be eaten with no worries.